Ground Work
by Super Karoru
Summary: Terra attempts to grow a garden to call her own.


**"Ground Work"**  
by Super Karoru  
**  
--**

Normally, when one has free time, one either chooses to utilize the opportunity to delve into other interests or either lie about your abode like a lazy bum. For the newest Titan on the team, she chose the former option. Terra's earthly powers gave her a more in-depth feeling with the world of nature around her; a feeling to make it thrive and grow, or to either use big rocks to throw at villains or unsuspecting bystanders. She had always wanted to grow her own garden, yet of course couldn't, what with her previous wandering lifestyle. Seizing the moment she had at the Tower, she went to work on what was to be the greatest garden of all time. Maybe it would get its own little column in a local magazine, or maybe even its own magazine itself. The possibilities were endless. If you can get the skills, that is.

Now, as any beginner should know, you start small and work your way up, not the other way around. But no, this garden was going to be huge. Luscious and thriving, it would be the next rainforest. _The Jump City Rainforest - _it's got a ring to it. But what would make up the future Jump City Rainforest? Surely, just a few flowers or maybe a vegetable or two, but nope, this one's gotta be **big**!

After a discreet visit to the local gardening shop, Terra was now officially stocked up on enough seeds and fertilizer to grow her own farm if she wanted to. But a farm isn't what she was aiming for, as you know. Confident she had the tools and equipment to grow the wondrous garden, she set to work at the un-godliest hour of the morning. She couldn't be disturbed by the others or by calls to bust up a bad guy during her work. The fine art of gardening waited for no robbery, rogue, call, crisis, transmission, nor bathroom break.

She set up a medium-sized plot of land by a more fertile side of the Titans' Tower (or it _looked_ fertile, anyway). Planting the seeds for flowers and veggies and whatever else she could fit in there. Each had their own set space. Fertilized and watered, they were all ready and rearing to grow. Now, all to do was wait.

Each day she walked out to admire what was to be her garden. Of course, each time of the day she went, there was nothing to admire. Seeing as these weren't super powerful seeds, 48 hours wasn't giving them enough time. But Terra was getting impatient. Perhaps the soil needed a bit of a steroid injection? No, no, this had to be a natural garden. ... Naturally steroid-induced... no! Terra shook her head away from such thoughts and just let the buds take their time. After two and a half weeks had passed, that was _surely_ enough time for them to grow and bloom and sprout and cover the entire city with magnificent beauty, correct? Well, not for Terra's plants, apparently.

"I'm not going back to that store again," she noted, noticing the microscopic sprouts plucking their microscopic buds from the rich dirt. In fact, "microscopic" was an understatement concerning Terra's greenery. Not even a magnifying glass could spot them. Yet, the blonde still wouldn't give up on her pursuit to get in-touch with Mother Earth. She just wished Mother Earth would cut her some slack.

Several more days later, the microscopic buds finally grew a bit more, reaching for the glowing sunlight. They were still tiny, yes, but you could see them without the use of magnifiers. And that was good enough to get Terra's hopes up. After inspecting and tending to her continually growing garden for a bit, she skipped back to the tower, optimistic grin on her face. _Maybe I do have a green thumb after all,_ she thought.

Each passing day, the buds weren't technically buds anymore, as micro-sized multi-colored flowers spread throughout the enclosure of soil in an eye-catching array. And each day, Terra's optimistic grin remained, growing more and more along with her blooming flowers.

Until one day.

A storm, a freeze, a very strong wind, absolutely nothing had occurred to threaten the inhabitants of Terra's garden. It could've been a fluke, it could've been the forces of the universe conspiring against her, it could've been that Mother Earth herself crushed Terra's garden under the firm grip of the environment, it could've been anything to kill those poor, defenseless seedlings.

The once optimistic, hopeful, and happy grin that Terra wore due to her garden's previous state was now replaced by a look of shock and annoyance.

Her previously perfect pansies... pitiful.  
Her before vibrant violets... vile.  
Her once ravishing roses... repulsive.  
Her prior pretty posies... pathetic.  
Not to mention that her tender tulips were now truly terrifying.

Clearly, it was a disaster.

"Something isn't right here," she finally stated after realizing the state of disarray it was in. Her thoughts were cut short as her communicator blinked and buzzed with an incoming transmission. Guessing who it was, she wasn't in the mood to talk of evil schemes, so she unlinked the device and threw it into the mess. She also wasn't in the mood to start over, so the girl sighed and trudged back to the tower. What was left of the garden would have to wait to be cleaned tomorrow.

The next day, no grin of any sort could be seen on Terra's features, as she had the tools to tear up what remained of her failed mission. But before she did, something caught her eye - something glowing and vibrant and ravishing - something that all the other flowers had once been. One single golden flower stood up proudly, wanting to be seen by all. It was perfect. It may not have been a rainforest, but it was the perfect flower, and Terra's waiting and work was worth it. The blonde make her way all around the flower, admiring it. It was her accomplishment. But she wasn't about to take it out of the ground to stick it in a pot for display -- not yet, perhaps. Let the perfect plant grow the natural way. Her grin returned. After a while of basking in her victory, she decided to head back in, as to not block the sunlight away from the flower to hinder its growth. With one last look, she made her way back to the door of the tower.

Each day Terra would go out to admire the flower -- the fruit of her labor -- and watched as it got to be more and more perfect. Surely, one perfect flower was better than a whole patch of 'normal' ones.

The week passed, and spring had definitely sprung. On this particular day, it was the pristine example of the season's loveliness. And also on this particular day, Terra was going to bring her flower out of the garden and into the best pot she could find, so as to show the others what she had accomplished. Though, during her daily visit, she had forgotten the shovel and pot to place the flower in, so she trotted back to where she kept her tools. She couldn't wait to tell the world about this plant!

As for everyone else, they were enjoying the spring day as much as Terra and the golden flower were. It was a great opportunity to run about outdoors to enjoy the moment and soak in the sun. Currently, Beast Boy and Cyborg were outside playing a round of football to get away from their videogame addiction. Robin would've joined them, but he had training to do.

"Go long, B!"

"I'm goin', I'm goin'!"

With that, Cyborg propelled the football as far as he could, making the shape shifter really run for it. Morphing into a kangaroo, he hopped up at just the right moment to catch the ball in his paws. To complete the feat, he changed back in mid-air, yet lost his footing and fell backwards right in a certain plot of dirt next to the Tower. Back in human form, he was about to do his patented victory dance since he caught the ball, but he noticed something sticking out from the bottom of his boot. He plucked off one yellow flower, examining it for a millisecond, then flicked the crushed plant back down to the dirt below.

"Eh, just another flower," Beast Boy shrugged, brushing some dirt off his shoulder. "It probably wasn't that important anyway." He grinned as he ran back to Cyborg to continue their game.

**end. **


End file.
